The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for altering the shape of an artwork. The invention also relates to a computer readable medium comprising a computer program for altering the shape an artwork. The present invention also relates to a method and apparatus for generating an artwork, The invention also relates to a computer readable medium comprising a computer program for generating an artwork. The invention further relates to an artwork produced by the method of generating artwork.
Electronic photo-albums have become increasingly popular in recent times. These electronic photo-albums typically take the form of a collection of images stored using a non-volatile memory device, from which a user can retrieve the image for displaying on a display device. Usually, the images are gathered in digital form, and may, for example, be scanned by an electronic scanner, down-loaded from the Internet or produced by a digital camera. A collection of these images can be stored electronically to create an electronic photo-album, analogous to the traditional family photo-album, which uses photographic prints.
Presently, electronic photo-albums take the form of a collection of images, a user of the album being able to associate a caption or brief description with each image. For example, a user can collect a series of family photographs of a wedding, whether from a digital video or still camera, and associate a caption such as a date and a brief description of the event with each image. If desired, an electronic photo-album can be reproduced from the memory device by a high quality output device, such as a high-resolution colour printer, to produce an album substantially similar to a conventional photo-album.
An example of such a photo-album software application is Frameit Version 1.0 manufactured by DogByte Development, 612 Moulton Avenue, Suite 7, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.A. This software application has the ability to provide frames or borders for electronic photographs These frames have predefined proportions and a slot into which the electronic photograph is fitted. However these predefined proportions of the frame are fixed and the photograph must be expanded, shrunk or cropped to fit into the slot. There is a need for a more flexible method in which images may be framed or bordered.
It is an object of the present invention to ameliorate one or more disadvantages of the prior art.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of altering the shape of an artwork, where the artwork is defined by a tree structure having leaf nodes comprising associated graphical objects and parent nodes comprising associated graphical operators, whereby sub-trees of the tree structure comprise associated graphical objects, wherein each node has fields adapted for storing values indicative of one or more associated alteration rules applicable to that node or that node""s sub-tree. The method comprises the steps of selecting a target area for fitting the artwork; traversing one or more of the nodes; and applying, for each one of the traversed nodes, one or more said alteration rules associated with that node to each point within the graphical object associated with the traversed node to re-position each such point with respect to the target area, thereby altering the shape of the artwork.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of altering the shape of an artwork, where the artwork is defined by a tree structure having leaf nodes comprising graphical objects and parent nodes comprising graphical operators, and wherein each node has fields adapted for storing values indicative of one or more alteration rules applicable to that node or its sub-tree. The method comprises the steps of: selecting a target area for fitting the artwork; traversing one or more of the nodes; and applying, for each one of the traversed nodes that is a leaf node, a said alteration rule to each point within the graphical object comprising the leaf node to re-position said each point in a first direction with respect to the target area, thereby altering the shape of the artwork in said first direction.
According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of altering the shape of an artwork, where the artwork is defined by a tree structure having leaf nodes comprising graphical objects and parent nodes comprising graphical operators, and wherein each node has fields adapted for storing values indicative of one or more horizontal and vertical alteration rules applicable to that node or its sub-tree and a field for storing a value indicative of whether or not a mapping restriction is applicable to that node and its subtree if any. The method comprises the steps of: selecting a target area for fitting the artwork; traversing one or more of the nodes; applying, for each of the traversed nodes that has a value indicating a mapping restriction, an affine transformation to the sub-tree of that node; applying, for each one of the traversed nodes that is a leaf node and has a value indicating no mapping restriction, a said horizontal alteration rule to each point within the graphical object comprising the leaf node to horizontally re-position each such point with respect to the target area; and applying, for each one of the traversed nodes that is a leaf node and has a value indicating no mapping restriction, a said vertical alteration rule to each point within the graphical object comprising the leaf node to vertically re-position said each point with respect to the target area, thereby altering the shape of the artwork.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of adapting an artwork for later generation, where the artwork is defined by a tree structure having leaf nodes comprising graphical objects and parent nodes comprising graphical operators. The method comprises the steps of: attaching one or more fields to each node for designating horizontal and vertical alteration rules applicable to that node or its sub-tree; and adding values to said one or more fields indicative of a said horizontal and vertical alteration, and where the artwork is adapted to be altered in accordance with said alteration rules.
According to fifth through eighth aspects of the invention, there are provided apparatus for performing the respective methods of the above-described first through fourth aspects, utilizing the expedients disclosed in the specification for those purposes, and equivalents thereof.
According to ninth through twelfth aspects of the invention, there are provided computer readable media comprising respective computer programs for performing the methods of the first through fourth aspects described above, utilizing software implementations of the expedients disclosed in the specification for that purpose, and equivalents thereof.